Julia Child

At a certain point in the wonderful new movie "Julie & Julia," there is a plot twist so shocking the audience gasps. Julia Child does something that seems so totally out of character that even on the way out, people were still shaking their heads. "How could she?" Well, that's one mystery I can solve. I was right there in the middle of it. Before I go any further, I have to warn you that this column is as full of spoilers as an unplugged refrigerator in August. If you haven't already seen the movie, you might want to wait to read this until after you have.

It's hard to believe that only 50 years have passed since Julia Child set foot on the new continent of American Foodlandia. And yet in that short period, it seems we've already seen the full cycle of colonial development: discovery, exploration, exploitation. Three books on recent food history offer glimpses of each stage. Luke Barr's "Provence, 1970" describes the beginning; Colman Andrews' "My Usual Table" hits the middle period; and Allen Salkin's "From Scratch," a pulp history of the Food Network, covers the descent into decadence.

Did you know Julia Child could sing? Well, sort of. Wednesday would have been the beloved TV personality, chef and author's 100th birthday, and to celebrate PBS Digital has made a special Julia Child remix video. The video splices and mixes different Child soundbites with scenes of her cooking for a song that is fun and catchy. The music sounds a little techno and definitely pop. PHOTOS : Julia Child: Her life in pictures Some of the best lyrics from the video include: "You need some fat in your diet, or your body can't process your vitamins," she sings with a chuckle. "Bring on the roasted potatoes, bring on the rosé, this is what good cooking is all about, this is what good cooking is all about.

Meryl Streep will portray political activist Emmeline Pankhurst in the historical drama " Suffragette," extending the actress' string of real-life female roles including Julia Child in "Julie and Julia," Anna Wintour in "The Devil Wears Prada" and Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady. " According to Screen Daily , Streep is in final negotiations to join the project and " will have a small but important role in the film, which will see her character give a 'tour de force' speech on women's rights during a political rally.

It's the 100th anniversary of the birth of Julia Child, the American who learned how to cook like a French chef while living abroad and brought those skills home with "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," published in 1961. Later, Child became a wonderful, batty television host, cooking on the fly for PBS and sipping as much sherry as she liked. Child's cookbook was a success, of course, but it ran counter to midcentury America's enthusiasm for prepared, packaged foods. Boning a duck on your own was about as far as you could get from putting a TV dinner in the oven.

Celebrated TV chef Julia Child served retailers a healthy helping of business this weekend as moviegoers rushed to snatch up cookbooks, buy biographies and even sign up for French cooking classes. The surprise surge came as the Meryl Streep film "Julie & Julia," based in part on her life, opened in theaters over the weekend. It ranked No. 2 at the box office in the U.S. and Canada and pulled in $20 million. By Sunday, Pasadena bookstore Vroman's sold out of the first volume of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."

In her four decades as America's cooking teacher, Julia Child had a hard-and-fast rule about commercial endorsements: She didn't do them. It didn't matter whether it was the butter that made her beurre blanc sauce sing, the pot in which she slow-cooked her cassoulet or even the cookbooks penned by chef friends — her praise was not for sale. "It was sort of a life philosophy that she had," said her great-nephew, Alex Prud'homme, who recalled how she frequently remarked: "Your name is your most valuable asset and you should be very careful how it's used.

A legal battle pits Julia Child's heirs against the Irvine-based manufacturer of Thermador ovens over a marketing campaign, launched without the permission of the culinary icon's estate, that touts her use of its appliances. Child was adamant about not endorsing products and brands, ever. Not for butter, appliances or even the cookbooks of friends. “It was sort of a life philosophy that she had,” her great-nephew, Alex Prud'homme, told The Times, recalling how she frequently remarked, “Your name is your most valuable asset, and you should be very careful how it's used.” PHOTOS: Julia Child: Her life in pictures According to The Times: The campaign rolled out this year by Thermador ... ranged from a Facebook “like” of its products by “Julia Child, chef” to glossy magazine ads that showed photos of Child and two of the brand's ovens with the caption, “An American Icon and Her American Icons.” Both sides agree that there were Thermador appliances on the Boston set where Child filmed “The French Chef” in the 1960s and 1970s and that she had a Thermador oven in the kitchen of her Cambridge , Mass., residence -- a room now displayed as a national treasure at the Smithsonian Institution . But the sides part on whether Thermador required the approval of the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, the Santa Barbara charitable foundation to which she left her intellectual property, including...

IN JULIA'S KITCHEN Julia Child 's niece, Philadelphia Cousins, recalls time spent in Aunt Ju-Ju's kitchen , now on display at the National Museum of American History. "It was not until I came to Cambridge as a freshman at Radcliffe College in 1969 that I really came to know Julia and Paul and spend time in their spacious kitchen, full of copper pots and intriguing culinary equipment and redolent of buttery, spicy, wonderful scents," Cousins writes. [National Museum of American History]

Poor Porker's beignets: Robyn Wilson and Jarrid Masse of the Poor Porker are hosting a complimentary pop-up at Espionage near The Grove. They'll be serving up beignets and chicory coffee. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. 7456 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles. www.thepoorporker.com . Feria de los Moles' preview: At this weekend's Taste , Feria del Mole is hosting a preview of some of the moles that will be presented at La Feria de los Moles, a Mexican food fair Oct. 7 at Olvera Street.

September 10, 2013 | By Jill Cowan, This post has been corrected. See note below for details

The nonprofit organization that safeguards Julia Child's legacy has a beef with culinary retail giant Williams-Sonoma, according to a lawsuit filed last week in Santa Barbara County Superior Court. The chain has been illegally using Child's name and picture in online promotional materials -- which isn't kosher, especially in light of the iconic chef's long-standing policy against shilling for products or companies, according to the complaint. "As almost any Julia fan can tell you that this was the policy during her lifetime," said Todd Schulkin, spokesman for the Montecito-based Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts.

Julia Child, who would have turned 100 this year, found her life's calling only by leaving her hometown of Pasadena for China and France. Had the pioneering celebrity chef stayed in her "parochial" Pasadena, she once confided to a biographer, she might have "become an alcoholic. " Today, she would have been able to graduate from Le Cordon Bleu, the American version, without going all the way to Paris - or even leaving her hometown. In recent years, the famed culinary school has colonized more than 100,000 square feet near downtown Pasadena.

Poor Porker's beignets: Robyn Wilson and Jarrid Masse of the Poor Porker are hosting a complimentary pop-up at Espionage near The Grove. They'll be serving up beignets and chicory coffee. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. 7456 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles. www.thepoorporker.com . Feria de los Moles' preview: At this weekend's Taste , Feria del Mole is hosting a preview of some of the moles that will be presented at La Feria de los Moles, a Mexican food fair Oct. 7 at Olvera Street.

In her four decades as America's cooking teacher, Julia Child had a hard-and-fast rule about commercial endorsements: She didn't do them. It didn't matter whether it was the butter that made her beurre blanc sauce sing, the pot in which she slow-cooked her cassoulet or even the cookbooks penned by chef friends — her praise was not for sale. "It was sort of a life philosophy that she had," said her great-nephew, Alex Prud'homme, who recalled how she frequently remarked: "Your name is your most valuable asset and you should be very careful how it's used.

A legal battle pits Julia Child's heirs against the Irvine-based manufacturer of Thermador ovens over a marketing campaign, launched without the permission of the culinary icon's estate, that touts her use of its appliances. Child was adamant about not endorsing products and brands, ever. Not for butter, appliances or even the cookbooks of friends. “It was sort of a life philosophy that she had,” her great-nephew, Alex Prud'homme, told The Times, recalling how she frequently remarked, “Your name is your most valuable asset, and you should be very careful how it's used.” PHOTOS: Julia Child: Her life in pictures According to The Times: The campaign rolled out this year by Thermador ... ranged from a Facebook “like” of its products by “Julia Child, chef” to glossy magazine ads that showed photos of Child and two of the brand's ovens with the caption, “An American Icon and Her American Icons.” Both sides agree that there were Thermador appliances on the Boston set where Child filmed “The French Chef” in the 1960s and 1970s and that she had a Thermador oven in the kitchen of her Cambridge , Mass., residence -- a room now displayed as a national treasure at the Smithsonian Institution . But the sides part on whether Thermador required the approval of the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, the Santa Barbara charitable foundation to which she left her intellectual property, including...

Julia Child would have been 100 years old today, but there's no doubt that this culinary and cultural legend has achieved immortality by the way the nation is celebrating her centennial birthday. To start with, #JuliaChild is trending on Twitter, and "Julia Child" is the single most searched-for term on Google on Wednesday morning. Then, there's the Google Doodle -- a technological nod to Child's lasting cultural significance. The Google Doodle shows her in her kitchen surrounded by many of the foods she taught Americans to cook without fear: whole chickens, fish, and chocolate layer cake, items that cleverly form the "Google" in the doodle.

Julia Child would have been 100 years old today, but there's no doubt that this culinary and cultural legend has achieved immortality by the way the nation is celebrating her centennial birthday. To start with, #JuliaChild is trending on Twitter, and "Julia Child" is the single most searched-for term on Google on Wednesday morning. Then, there's the Google Doodle -- a technological nod to Child's lasting cultural significance. The Google Doodle shows her in her kitchen surrounded by many of the foods she taught Americans to cook without fear: whole chickens, fish, and chocolate layer cake, items that cleverly form the "Google" in the doodle.

I am fortunate enough to have known the Great Julia for many years. She was always an inspiration to me. Not so much for her cookbooks - quite honestly, I came of culinary age at the tail end of the era of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and didn't cook from it all that much. What inspired me about Julia was the way she lived. And that's what I reflected on in my appreciation of her written right after she died on Aug. 13, 2004. I've been lucky enough to win more than my share of awards, but few things have meant as much as the fact that her family chose to have this piece read aloud at their private funeral service for her. It's as true now as it was then.